Eberron

The Storm Chasers Legacy in Valenar

11

DEC/12

Eldrin looked around for his purse. It was so light that he had trouble finding it these days. “How about hitting the pits tonight?” Rod grunted his approval. Eldrin took a long pull on his whiskey before offering the rest to Rod. The boar slurped the rest up and then bashed the clay jar with his head. “Oy, I was going to use that again!” Rod stared at Eldrin and then farted. “Ugh, you stink. C’mon, let’s go.” Eldrin and Rod sauntered over to the underground district of Pylas Maradal. When they arrived at the fighting pits, the crowd fanned out like flames around the foul, stinky pair, leaving them a wide berth. Heading over to the 2-man tag-out battle arena, he found the Valen brothers again, this time being challenged by two…foreigners. A funny pair too…a huge looking warforged and a short dark-skinned gnome. The odds were 2 to 1 against them, and Eldrin decided that was good enough to bet all he had and hopefully put off working for his whiskey for another week.

When he went to place his bet, he heard someone say “Phew…perhaps we should set up or own fighting ring where we won’t have to deal with this riffraff.” It was Artas, a well-known landlord who liked to parade his wealth in everyone’s face. Eldrin felt a burp coming on, so he turned and burped in his mouth and then blew it right in Artas’s face. Eldrin then turned and placed his bet as Artas snarled some obscenities before Eldrin made his way back to the ring.

The fight was underway, and the small gnome was thrown into the ring by the hulking warforged. He and the Valen brother (it was so hard to tell them apart) began testing each other, neither landing a hit for a long time. The Valen launched a bramble arrow, but he missed the gnome, and the gnome tried to fling the brambles back at the Valen, but he missed as well. This went on for a time until the Valen got stuck in one of the briars that were on the field and he tripped and fell. The gnome pounced on him and was able to get first blood, and he started wailing on the Valen, who managed to free himself eventually and tag out. Though the gnome wasn’t even scratched yet, he tagged out as well, and the warforged charged the second Valen. He fought ferociously and his blows were tremendous. The Valen was looking beat when he pulled out a poisoned dagger managed to strike the warforged in the calf. Though the warforged shook it off quickly, it seemed to take a bit out of him. Still, the warforged pressed his advantage and it was soon clear that Valen could not make it back to tag out. The warforged looked to the crowd. “NO MERCY!” Eldrin shouted, and he and many others gave the thumbs-down. To the Valen’s horror, the warforged jumped up and fell face-first right onto his opponent, crushing the life out of him. “NO!” shouted the other Valen, and he and his two friends all rushed out and attacked the warforged at once. The gnome rejoined the the warforged, and the two made short work of the battered Valen and his friends. Eldrin cheered and Rod wildly stamped about. As Eldrin went to collect his winnings, he again saw Artas at the table, cursing about losing the bet. Artas shrieked as he discovered that his purse was missing, and he now owed the bookies 1700 gold! Eldrin laughed in his face, and he and Rod immediately headed out to the bar to spend their unearned winnings.

The Storm Chasers set sail once again, with the ship fund replenished and the boat repaired from the storm they had encountered at sea. They all had such a successful time at Pylas Maradal that they decided to seek a similar fortune in Taer Valaestas, the capital of Valenar. At Taer Valaestas, the most prestigious challenge was a men vs. monster challenge, so naturally the Storm Chasers went there. As Pippin, May’m, Korrash, and ED made their way into the coliseum, Korrash inspected their surroundings. It was not long before he noticed a few tell-tale mounds of dirt. “Careful…there are burrowers.” Sure enough, the ground beneath them started moving, and the crowds were going crazy. “I believe in you guys! I know you won’t get eaten, even though everyone else did!” shouted an elf boy.
Out from beneath burst a brown dragon. He ferociously attacked the party, tearing at them with his claws and his devastating poisonous breath. Though the party was battered and bloodied, Pippin and May’m were able to help them come back from behind, and as they gained momentum the dragon was unable to recover. In the end, the Storm Chasers had made a big name for themselves in Valenar, and when they hit the bars everyone cheered them and offered them free rounds. In their revelry, the party started parading the dragon’s head around the bar, and everyone formed a massive conga line.